Local surfers take up beach cleaning in Surf City

Friday

Jun 16, 2017 at 2:01 AM

By Hannah DelaCourtGatehouse Media

SURF CITY — For about eight weeks, Cory Sydes, president of the Topsail Island Longboard Association, and other local surfers and business members have been walking at least 10 blocks every morning they can to clean up trash near the Surf City Visitor’s Center.

Meeting between 6 and 7 a.m. each day, the group members — with buckets in hand — walk at least five blocks to the left and five blocks to the right of the pier.

Sydes said he didn’t know it would become an everyday occurrence, but a morning with no waves turned into an act of stewardship for him and many other surfers to give back to the island they love.

“The first day that we walked, it was just a real eye-opener to see, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s not even summer yet and this is the trash we are getting off the beach,’” he said.

The group fills several buckets each day with beer cans, plastic toys, tents and hundreds of cigarettes from along the shoreline.

Wrightsville Beach is the only beach in the state that currently bans smoking on the beach.

Sydes said ban or no ban, keeping the beaches clean comes down to peoples’ choices.

“It’s not about the beach even, it’s about the wildlife,” he said. “This is a turtle sanctuary. Where do those cigarettes go?”

He said he watched a video of two researchers pulling a straw from a turtle’s snout, and the next day he was out cleaning the beach.

George Howard of On Shore Surf Shop in Surf City is another regular member out picking up trash every day.

As a smoker himself, he said if he does smoke on the beach he either uses the receptacles provided by the town or he takes his used cigarettes home to dispose of.

He said he hopes the work the group is doing will have a similar impact on others.

“It’s mainly a choice,“ Howard said. “The point we are trying to get across is, ‘Take care of our beach.’ This is 26 miles of nothing but beauty down here.”

Sydes said a good motto to live by is whatever you bring to the beach, make sure to take it all home with you.

At the end of the summer, Sydes said, the Topsail Island Longboard Association is planning a 26-mile sweep of the beach.

“We love this island and we love the ocean,” he said. “That’s just our lives.”